She must have been one of the Bologne de Saint-Georges’ household slaves and may indeed have accompanied George into exile. Nothing is known of his mother beyond the fact that she was a beautiful young slave of Senegalese origin who was given the name Nanon. The different date of 1739, the year generally quoted, is based on his death certificate. Two official documents from the revolutionary period in Joseph’s hand gives his date of birth as 1748. What is certain, however, is that Joseph was born while his father was in exile. Domingue (Haiti) although no documentation has been found to confirm this. It is believed that George Bologne de Saint-Georges spent his exile on St. A note appended to his dossier tells us that Bologne de Saint-Georges was subsequently pardoned – the date is not recorded – but it must have been before 1755 when he is known to have been back in Basse-Terre. The hanging was carried out in effigy on 25 October 1748. He fled Basse-Terre and on 31 March 1748 was convicted and sentenced in absentia to “be hanged and strangled until death ensues on the gallows erected in the corner of the public square in this town of Basseterre” and had all his goods confiscated. Three days later he died, probably of infection rather than from the wound itself, and Saint-Georges found himself accused of murder. Le Vanier St-Robert was wounded on the nose but was able to return home unaided. In 1747, while paying a visit to his uncle Samuel de Bologne, George became involved in a scuffle with a fellow guest. The boy is believed to be Joseph de Bologne Saint-Georges, the famous swordsman and composer. In a statement written around 1782 in connection with a dispute between the parish and the Bologne family over its burial rights in the chapel of the Holy Virgin of the church of St-François in Basse-Terre, the parish priest wrote that Bologne St-Georges had two children, a girl and a boy, “both living in France”. There is, however, one exception to this. George de Bologne Saint-Georges (b.1710) married Elizabeth Françoise Jeanne Mérican on 8 September 1739 and on 21 January 1740, a daughter was born, Elizabeth Bénédictine de Bologne, the only child whose name appears in any of the extant documentation concerning the family. The Bologne family owned thriving sugar and coffee plantations and many of them held senior ranks in the colony’s armed forces. The younger Pierre de Bologne acquired a significant reputation as a poet and was admitted to the Academy of the Inestricati of Bologne in Italy. According to a petition by Pierre de Bologne, George’s elder brother, made in 1769-1770, the family traced its descent from the “noble and ancient house of Bologne, originating in Italy, and from the city of that name”. George was the son of Pierre de Bologne, a wealthy colonist and major in the Lonvilliers regiment in Guadaloupe. Listen to Artaria's founder and chief editor Dr. Allan Badley discussing Bologne de Saint-Georges in this Naxos Podcast Recent research, notably that of Emil Smidak, has established that his father was one George de Bologne Saint-Georges, a former Gentleman of the King’s Bedchamber and an important planter at Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe. His origins, in many older published accounts, are incorrect in detail while remaining essentially accurate in substance. In an age when slavery was endemic and slaves regarded as ‘moveable objects’, beasts of burden to be starved, beaten, tortured and killed at will, Saint-Georges, who was mixed-race, was, without doubt, one of its most celebrated men. The combination of artist, athlete and man of action - for he also held military commands during the revolutionary period - is unique in the history of music and the man himself scarcely less extraordinary than the phenomenal range of his talents. Not only was he among the most important musicians in Paris during the pre-revolutionary period but he was also a superb all-round athlete and man of arms.Īmong connoisseurs of the art of fencing, Saint-Georges was considered the finest swordsman in Europe, possessed of extraordinary speed, flexibility and grace, qualities which he also exhibited in abundance as a violinist. View sheet music by Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was widely regarded as the most accomplished man of his age.
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